Kings GM Immediately Makes Impact, For Better or Worse
Apr 26, 2016 12:19:19 GMT -5
bjernagris (PHI) and mattgough60 like this
Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2016 12:19:19 GMT -5
Kings greenhorn General Manager Marques Em. Maritime saw his new team go for a record of 2-1-1 throughout this past week, before immediately trading away most of the players who carried that team to their hard-fought 5 points.
Quickly after the fourth game of the week, a 3-2 triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins, Markist stepped out for a rare, post-game GM press conference.
All-in-all, the Kings made five trades, moving a total of nine roster players, plus many picks and prospects, for twelve roster players in return.
First, the Kings moved veteran forward Jeff Carter, defenseman Alec Martinez and Kyle Clifford, who has recently seen his value spike during the season due to his increased role on the Kings' roster, to the Montreal Canadiens for Bobby Ryan, Zybnek Michalek and Sven Andrighetto. All-in-all, the move was seen as a decent first move in that Bobby Ryan has seen production drop harshly this year, but could produce on the Kings' top line. Michalek's deal is expiring at the end of this season, is cheaper than Martinez's 5-year long deal. Andrighetto is yet unproven, unlike Clifford, but GM Marwest admitted he really liked the prospect.
"Andrighetto, to me, could produce as much, if not more than Clifford, if given the same ice time," Maribald said, taking questions about the first deal.
With Marian Gaborik out for what could be a long while with a supposed eye injury (Marikiss has yet to provide details as to the top-line forward's injury, including a time frame, though some suspect it could drag on into next year), Andrighetto has the perfect opportunity to break out on the first or second line.
The Kings also moved prospects Slater Koekoek and Valentin Zykov for Detroit's 3rd round pick in 2017, and Montreal's 4th in 2018, which becomes a 3rd if the Kings make it past the first round of this year's playoffs.
The next move the Kings made was a trade with hated rivals the San Jose Sharks, simultaneously for not much at all, and a lot.
Forward and defensive prospects Michael Mersch and Connor Prapavessis were packaged alongside Captain Dustin Brown to bring Tommy Wingels and Justin Braun, whose massive contract is simmering down in the AHL for now.
This is a move that comes days after Dustin Brown and GM Marrykill stood by each other.
"I appreciate what Dustin Brown has done for this team. He helped bring the Los Angeles Kings two Stanley Cups in a short period of time, and brought leadership and a hard-working mentality to the team for years before, and after. But his situation was untenable despite the leadership he brought to the team."
Junior Sports Analyst Nick Tardive had this to say about the Brown trade:
"Look, was there ever any question that the Kings would trade Dustin Brown? The guy is getting paid more than Jonathan Quick to deteriorate with old age on the fourth line. The San Jose Sharks sit 20 points ahead of the Kings in the conference, a rivalry can't dissipate those 20 points. I think the move was smart - the Kings had to give up two good prospects to get a player who might not sign in the offseason and a player who most definitely will be bought out, but shipping out Dustin Brown removed $6 million in cap space to work with."
The real shocker of a trade was apparently worked on just moments later, however. Drew Doughty, the cornerstone of the King's defense, has been shipped out to Chicago. In return, the Blackhawks sent back Adam Larsson, Joni Tuulola, Brandon Dubinsky, Sergei Kalinin, prospect Brandon Saigeon and Chicago's 2nd in 2018.
When asked about his decision to trade away perennial Norris-candidate Doughty, GM Marthot said, "I would like to thank Drew for everything he has done in this organization. He is one of the, if not the, best defensemen in the game. He can shoot, pass, hit, defend, for 30 minutes a night, every night. I have nothing against Drew, but when I see a deal I like, I take it."
Nick Tardive responded in kind:
"Look, elite players get traded no matter what. This is a trade that, yes, the Los Angeles Kings sent out basically their entire defensive corps in Doughty, but in return they got two very good defensemen back in Larsson and Tuulola, and Dubinsky is an ideal 3rd line center. This is a trade that I think the entire hockey world is torn on - Drew Doughty, maybe more so than Quick or Kopitar, was the Kings. I really like Larsson, I really like Tuulola, that 2nd will be nice. But this is something we'll really have to judge by watching the rest of the season."
The fourth Kings trade wasn't a mind-blowing blockbuster like the Carter and Doughty trades, although it did turn some heads in the conference room. The LA Kings traded Matt Greene, arguably the King's second best d-man until the trades started flowing in, and their 5th round pick in 2017 to the New York Islanders for Thomas Hickey, prospect Sebastien Collberg and their 4th rounder in 2017.
"Matt Greene is a fine player, as is Hickey," Marfeld said, "it's just personal preference." After that, he refused any more questions about the Greene, Hickey trade.
Finally, the last trade was a huge one. In a large, 3-way trade with the Philadelphia Flyers and Dallas Stars, the Kings traded away Tanner Pearson and a 4th to Philadelphia for Jared Spurgeon and Matt Nieto, as well as their 2nd and 3rd picks in 2018, a 3rd in 2017 and prospect Adrien Kempe for Jason Spezza and prospect Cole Bardreau. In return, the Kings also dumped the salaries of Matt Belesky, Christian Ehrhoff and Roman Polak.
Markoffington refused to answer any questions about this trade beyond stating, "I'm happy with it,"
Tardive, however, was raring to go after this trade, saying:
"Out of the five trades the Kings announced today, this is by far the worst. They were robbed by the Philadelphia GM - I mean, Pearson was their leading point getter, and they give him up AND a 4th to get...Jared Spurgeon, who is a Top 6 d-man on a good day, and Matt Nieto, who might be able to score a couple goals on the second line? Meanwhile, picking up Jason Spezza was great, but they gave up three picks, none later than the 3rd round, for only Spezza. This is a trade that, I think, will undo almost everything GM Milhouse has done in this past week. Getting Spezza, Spurgeon and Nieto were all good pick-ups, but he somehow managed to sacrifice the now and the future to make the team not any better, and possibly worse than it was."
Senior Sports Analyst Dan Wolhere disagreed:
"I see where you're going with this, Nick, but I think the trade works out for all three teams. Did the Kings maybe get swindled a little? I think so. But obviously Markhold values Toffoli as much as he does Pearson, and with Bobby Ryan on the first line now, Pearson might have not done as well besides, say, Spezza and Nick Shore. I believe that, what kind of puts a huge hamper on the GM's plans was the injury to Marian Gaborik. It seems like everything he did was building toward a Ryan-Kopy-Gabby first line, with Spezza and Toffoli on the second, with maybe Andrighetto or Nieto, or even Shore. And, while the Kings might have gotten swindled, I think they had to allow themselves to be swindled - could they have gotten better players if they held out more? Maybe. But this team is in a stretch until the deadline where they have to win, and win, and win. And the team now looks much, much better on paper than they did last week."
"We'll have to see, Dan. But trading half of the team away for players from five different teams does not build the chemistry meant to win games. If I were Marfalst, I would have stopped after the Doughty trade and said that's that."
Projected lines for the upcoming week:
Ryan-Kopitar-Toffoli
Andrighetto-Shore-Spezza
Nieto-Dubinsky-Wingels
Kalinin-Lewis-King
Cernak-Larsson
Tuulola-Spurgeon
Hickey-Michalek
Goaltender: Quick
Quickly after the fourth game of the week, a 3-2 triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins, Markist stepped out for a rare, post-game GM press conference.
All-in-all, the Kings made five trades, moving a total of nine roster players, plus many picks and prospects, for twelve roster players in return.
First, the Kings moved veteran forward Jeff Carter, defenseman Alec Martinez and Kyle Clifford, who has recently seen his value spike during the season due to his increased role on the Kings' roster, to the Montreal Canadiens for Bobby Ryan, Zybnek Michalek and Sven Andrighetto. All-in-all, the move was seen as a decent first move in that Bobby Ryan has seen production drop harshly this year, but could produce on the Kings' top line. Michalek's deal is expiring at the end of this season, is cheaper than Martinez's 5-year long deal. Andrighetto is yet unproven, unlike Clifford, but GM Marwest admitted he really liked the prospect.
"Andrighetto, to me, could produce as much, if not more than Clifford, if given the same ice time," Maribald said, taking questions about the first deal.
With Marian Gaborik out for what could be a long while with a supposed eye injury (Marikiss has yet to provide details as to the top-line forward's injury, including a time frame, though some suspect it could drag on into next year), Andrighetto has the perfect opportunity to break out on the first or second line.
The Kings also moved prospects Slater Koekoek and Valentin Zykov for Detroit's 3rd round pick in 2017, and Montreal's 4th in 2018, which becomes a 3rd if the Kings make it past the first round of this year's playoffs.
The next move the Kings made was a trade with hated rivals the San Jose Sharks, simultaneously for not much at all, and a lot.
Forward and defensive prospects Michael Mersch and Connor Prapavessis were packaged alongside Captain Dustin Brown to bring Tommy Wingels and Justin Braun, whose massive contract is simmering down in the AHL for now.
This is a move that comes days after Dustin Brown and GM Marrykill stood by each other.
"I appreciate what Dustin Brown has done for this team. He helped bring the Los Angeles Kings two Stanley Cups in a short period of time, and brought leadership and a hard-working mentality to the team for years before, and after. But his situation was untenable despite the leadership he brought to the team."
Junior Sports Analyst Nick Tardive had this to say about the Brown trade:
"Look, was there ever any question that the Kings would trade Dustin Brown? The guy is getting paid more than Jonathan Quick to deteriorate with old age on the fourth line. The San Jose Sharks sit 20 points ahead of the Kings in the conference, a rivalry can't dissipate those 20 points. I think the move was smart - the Kings had to give up two good prospects to get a player who might not sign in the offseason and a player who most definitely will be bought out, but shipping out Dustin Brown removed $6 million in cap space to work with."
The real shocker of a trade was apparently worked on just moments later, however. Drew Doughty, the cornerstone of the King's defense, has been shipped out to Chicago. In return, the Blackhawks sent back Adam Larsson, Joni Tuulola, Brandon Dubinsky, Sergei Kalinin, prospect Brandon Saigeon and Chicago's 2nd in 2018.
When asked about his decision to trade away perennial Norris-candidate Doughty, GM Marthot said, "I would like to thank Drew for everything he has done in this organization. He is one of the, if not the, best defensemen in the game. He can shoot, pass, hit, defend, for 30 minutes a night, every night. I have nothing against Drew, but when I see a deal I like, I take it."
Nick Tardive responded in kind:
"Look, elite players get traded no matter what. This is a trade that, yes, the Los Angeles Kings sent out basically their entire defensive corps in Doughty, but in return they got two very good defensemen back in Larsson and Tuulola, and Dubinsky is an ideal 3rd line center. This is a trade that I think the entire hockey world is torn on - Drew Doughty, maybe more so than Quick or Kopitar, was the Kings. I really like Larsson, I really like Tuulola, that 2nd will be nice. But this is something we'll really have to judge by watching the rest of the season."
The fourth Kings trade wasn't a mind-blowing blockbuster like the Carter and Doughty trades, although it did turn some heads in the conference room. The LA Kings traded Matt Greene, arguably the King's second best d-man until the trades started flowing in, and their 5th round pick in 2017 to the New York Islanders for Thomas Hickey, prospect Sebastien Collberg and their 4th rounder in 2017.
"Matt Greene is a fine player, as is Hickey," Marfeld said, "it's just personal preference." After that, he refused any more questions about the Greene, Hickey trade.
Finally, the last trade was a huge one. In a large, 3-way trade with the Philadelphia Flyers and Dallas Stars, the Kings traded away Tanner Pearson and a 4th to Philadelphia for Jared Spurgeon and Matt Nieto, as well as their 2nd and 3rd picks in 2018, a 3rd in 2017 and prospect Adrien Kempe for Jason Spezza and prospect Cole Bardreau. In return, the Kings also dumped the salaries of Matt Belesky, Christian Ehrhoff and Roman Polak.
Markoffington refused to answer any questions about this trade beyond stating, "I'm happy with it,"
Tardive, however, was raring to go after this trade, saying:
"Out of the five trades the Kings announced today, this is by far the worst. They were robbed by the Philadelphia GM - I mean, Pearson was their leading point getter, and they give him up AND a 4th to get...Jared Spurgeon, who is a Top 6 d-man on a good day, and Matt Nieto, who might be able to score a couple goals on the second line? Meanwhile, picking up Jason Spezza was great, but they gave up three picks, none later than the 3rd round, for only Spezza. This is a trade that, I think, will undo almost everything GM Milhouse has done in this past week. Getting Spezza, Spurgeon and Nieto were all good pick-ups, but he somehow managed to sacrifice the now and the future to make the team not any better, and possibly worse than it was."
Senior Sports Analyst Dan Wolhere disagreed:
"I see where you're going with this, Nick, but I think the trade works out for all three teams. Did the Kings maybe get swindled a little? I think so. But obviously Markhold values Toffoli as much as he does Pearson, and with Bobby Ryan on the first line now, Pearson might have not done as well besides, say, Spezza and Nick Shore. I believe that, what kind of puts a huge hamper on the GM's plans was the injury to Marian Gaborik. It seems like everything he did was building toward a Ryan-Kopy-Gabby first line, with Spezza and Toffoli on the second, with maybe Andrighetto or Nieto, or even Shore. And, while the Kings might have gotten swindled, I think they had to allow themselves to be swindled - could they have gotten better players if they held out more? Maybe. But this team is in a stretch until the deadline where they have to win, and win, and win. And the team now looks much, much better on paper than they did last week."
"We'll have to see, Dan. But trading half of the team away for players from five different teams does not build the chemistry meant to win games. If I were Marfalst, I would have stopped after the Doughty trade and said that's that."
Projected lines for the upcoming week:
Ryan-Kopitar-Toffoli
Andrighetto-Shore-Spezza
Nieto-Dubinsky-Wingels
Kalinin-Lewis-King
Cernak-Larsson
Tuulola-Spurgeon
Hickey-Michalek
Goaltender: Quick